"First, there was Mr Waffles, the Yorkshire terrier thattalks to his owners by pressing electronic buttons that have been pre-programmed with words and phrases. In one of his videos, viewed more than half a million times, the pint-sized pooch stares defiantly at the camera and responds to an empty packet of treats by pressing the I don't give a damn button."
"Then, last month, researchers reported that some dogs can mentally categorise their toys depending on their use. Fetch toys can be distinguished from tug of war toys, and retrieved appropriately. I'm a dog owner. I fully admit to being one of the third of Britons who would rather talk to their pets than to people. At first glance, the study seems to confirm what I already knew that my dog understands everything that I say"
Dogs can learn elements of human language and use tools such as pre-programmed electronic buttons to convey words and phrases. Some dogs can mentally categorise toys by function and retrieve them appropriately. Humans often form close conversational bonds with pets and may attribute broad comprehension to them. Other species show language-like features: elephants use harmonically rich low-frequency calls to address specific group members; bottlenose dolphins develop unique signature whistles and mothers use motherese-like tones for bonding; songbirds display regional dialects. These examples reveal communicative complexity across multiple animal species.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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